Vitamin B3 (niacin, niacinamide, and nicotinic acid) works with other B vitamins to change carbohydrates into glucose and to metabolize proteins and fats. B3 is also an important dietary antioxidant. B3 lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, raises HDL cholesterol, reduces hardening of the arteries, and reduces the risk of a second heart attack for those who have already experienced one.

B3 is not stored in the body. Therefore, it is important to eat a healthy diet that supplies the daily need for this essential nutrient. !!Foods rich in vitamin B2

Vitamin B3 deficiency

A mild vitamin B2 deficiency results fatigue and indigestion, vomiting and canker sores. A more severe deficiency can lead to depression and can be associated with Reynaud’s disease, an autoimmune disease. Severe deficiency causes pellagra, a disease that can be fatal. In the more advanced stages of deficiency, symptoms include a bright red swollen tongue, severe rashes, lack of coordination, dizziness, sensitivity to light, paralysis, hair loss, edema, enlarged heart, insomnia, mental confusion, dementia, followed by death.

And as always, if supplementing B3, it is best to take B3 along with the other B vitamins in a B complex because any long term use of a singular B vitamin will cause an imbalance in the others.

Pellagra

Pellagra is a disease caused by B vitamin deficiency that is described as the four Ds: : diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death. Although the disease had been recognized for a long time as caused my malnutrition, it wasn’t until the 1920s that its cause was discovered.

Prior to this time, it was believed that corn was the cause, because many populations with corn as a basic staple suffered from this disease. It was later learned that the practice of nixtimalizing corn (soaking and cooking in lime water), a practice of Native Americans and others, corrected the deficiency.

Pellagra was epidemic in the South in the early 1900s with more than 3 million Americans suffering from the disease between 1906 and 1940. Discovery of the source of the disease led to the first vitamin enriched foods.

Interactions with medications

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the following drugs may lower B3 levels in the body: Azathioprine (Imuran), Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin), Cycloserine (Seromycin), Fluorouracil, Levodopa and carbidopa, and Mercaptopurine (Purinethol), anti-seizure medications Phenytoin (Dilantin) and valproic acid (Depakote), Isoniazid (INH) — INH,